Why Would Someone Pursue Help from a Career Counselor?
Career Counseling is when a student or a young adult pursues a counselor to map out an academic plan or clear strategy to achieve their career goals. You may have heard of academic planning before. This is a pretty common activity that high schoolers and collegiate level students do with a guidance counselor or with their parents.
Career Counseling is when you work with an experienced individual who knows the classes you need to take and the required GPA to get into certain colleges (or to pursue certain majors). There are really so many details and so much red tape to get around in order to achieve the goals you have academically and beyond.
Think of it as a puzzle. Do you know what the completed puzzle will look like? Each person you work with along the way only knows their section of the puzzle. A person who specializes in career counseling is looking at the whole puzzle and working to make sure all the pieces fit. For instance, the pieces of high school need to be part of the puzzle that gives you the needed classes for your direction in college. The college pieces need to be put together to achieve the career you want or the degree you need to do the work you want to do or have the classes needed for graduate school in your chosen field. If you are not looking at the complete puzzle, it can add to your time as you may end up with pieces to a puzzle that do not fit in your puzzle. This can lead to added time and costs. If have specific dreams for your future, you really need someone to walk you through the steps who has done it all before (more than once if possible). If you do not know your goal, you need someone to help you keep as many options open as possible so you are able to put the puzzle together.
Susan Henry Blackburn is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and an experienced academic counselor in Sarasota, FL. She says that students should start mapping out their career plans as early as Middle School. Most of the time she works with young adults in High School helping them prepare for what classes they need to take and the GPA they must achieve in order to be accepted into their University of choice.
People say: “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail” and this is how Susan approaches her clients – that planning is the key to success. Planning long term goals and then breaking them down into bite sized tasks that seem much easier to achieve. Many people become overwhelmed with trying to reach their goals because they are looking at EVERYTHING they must get done instead of taking it one task at a time.
Susan helps young people to think clearly, write down their vision and dreams, and TOGETHER she helps them curate a custom plan that works for them. She does not have a general plan for all different industries, but rather, approaches each person individually and addresses their specific needs. It may take more time and energy, but after 30+ years she is in her rhythm and knows what it takes to help with the educational planning and equipping of the next generation.